Francois Daumard, a former Microsoft executive who has spent the past couple of years building a mobility channel program at Apple, has left for a position at mobile device management vendor Fiberlink, CRN has learned.

A Fiberlink spokesperson confirmed to CRN Wednesday that Daumard joined the company "a couple of weeks ago" as director of channel development. An official announcement of his hiring is forthcoming.

Fiberlink, which worked with Daumard during his time at Apple, lured him away to oversee a major expansion of its channel program, one source familiar with the matter told CRN.

Fiberlink, Blue Bell, Pa., was founded in 1991 and sells MaaS360, a cloud-based mobile device management product that helps enterprises keep pace with the IT demands of the bring-your-own-device craze.

Daumard was a key hire for Apple, which lacked the in-house expertise to handle enterprise-scale integrations of iPhones and iPads in Windows-based networks. Apple's partner channel also lacked these skills, and so Daumard's connections to the Microsoft channel helped Apple fill this gap and take on big enterprise deals with confidence.

Apple didn't respond to a request for comment on Daumard's departure. But another source told CRN that Apple has not named his replacement.

"He will be very hard to replace," the source told CRN, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Several sources told CRN they believe Daumard grew frustrated with Apple's culture of secrecy, which makes sense when it comes to keeping product plans from leaking but complicates the task of building interest in a channel program. At Fiberlink, Daumard will presumably be free from such restrictions.

Apple, which claims that nearly all Fortune 500 companies are using iPads and iPhones, will have to fill Daumard's role quickly to keep its enterprise business on track.

Apple also has a market expansion opportunity in the enterprise, CEO Tim Cook said in last week's third-quarter earnings call.